By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Nando De Colo scored 22 points, 18 of them in the first half, and had 4 steals as CSKA Moscow easily downed Galatasaray 85 – 69 for the 25th round of the Euroleague regular season.
It was a stylish performance by the defending champs, that mathematically got the postseason ticket in an emphatic manner and remained first in the standings at a 19 – 6 record. Their opponents (8-17) couldn’t withstand them, despite the efforts of Vladimir Micov (18 points), Tibor Pleiss (11 points, 7 rebounds), Goksenin Koksal (13 points, 5 rebounds) and Alex Tyus (11 points, 7 rebounds).
The “Cimbom” were competitive only in the first quarter, which they actually finished ahead 13 – 17. But by pulling of some strong defenses and translating them into successful plays on the other end, the hosts first took a 31 – 20 and then absolutely dominated reaching a 25 – 3 partial score in the second period for the 38 – 20.
With the score 49 – 29 early in the third, you might’ve thought that CSKA would simply trample over Galatasaray in the remainer of the match but even though coach Ergin Ataman used a heavy rotation, his team managed to balance the game a bit.
Not enough to become dangerous, since Kyle Hines (13 points, 5 rebounds), Cory Higgins (12 points) and Aaron Jackson (10 points, 5 assists) always kept their team’s lead above double figures.